Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen “Ragga” Marley featuring the Ghetto Youths Crew will play the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday, June 29, plus special guest The Green.

Damian Robert Nesta Marley, also known around the world as “Junior Gong” and more recently as “Gongzilla” was born in 1978 to parents Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976. As a young adult, he developed a passion and a gift to speak for those who cannot always speak for themselves. A self-proclaimed ‘Spiritual Revolutionary’, Damian has worked assiduously to carve his own niche in music history and to add a new perspective to the Marley legacy for the 21st century. Damian continued to cross musical boundaries in 2012, as he went on to partner with Skrillex for their groundbreaking track “Make It Bun Dem”, which Rolling Stone called “a monster mash up of dubstep and dancehall” and has led to several remixes of the original version. Damian recently released two other singles; “Set Up Shop” and “Affairs of the Heart” which both received widespread airplay. He is working with his brothers Stephen and Julian under their Ghetto Youths International Label, to discover, develop and sign gifted artistes by applying their musical talent and vast experience to create new and different styles of music.

Few were surprised when Stephen Marley’s long awaited debut solo album “Mind Control” (Tuff Gong/Ghetto Youths/Universal Republic) premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albume chart in March 2007. The singing, songwriting and production excellence Stephen had brought to other Marley family projects over the years, including younger brother Damian’s two Grammy Award winning albums, practically guaranteed “Mind Control” would be a remarkable effort. While Stephen has built a formidable reputation handily navigating between genres, his second album, Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life marks a return to roots reggae, because “that is just the way the songs came out of me,” Stephen explained. “I wasn’t as excited about “Mind Control” as I am about this album,” Stephen enthused. “We didn’t plan it, it just came together naturally and sometimes things just work out better that way.” In 2013, Stephen Marley plans to release a follow-up to the Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life entitled, Revelation Part 2: The Fruit of Life, which will lean towards more of what Marley describes as an “eclectic feel”.

Formed in 2009 on Oahu, Hawaii, The Green “fuses late 1970s-era dub-heavy roots reggae with strands of contemporary rock/pop/R&B and sporadic indigenous Hawaiian musical and lyrical references” (Billboard). Shortly after the release of their debut album (2010), The Green began a heavy touring cycle, including runs with Rebelution and SOJA, Vans Warped Tour, and internationally in Japan, New Zealand, and Guam. In fall 2012 after the release of the #1 Billboard Reggae Album WAYS & MEANS, the sextet completed their first headlining U.S. tour, including multiple sold out dates. This spring The Green embarks on the Take Me On Tour, debuting songs from their third album, slated for release on Easy Star Records later this summer. The Green’s first two albums combined have sold 50,000 copies worldwide.